President Uhuru Kenyatta is expected to give the state of the nation Covid 19 address any time now.
The new normal is the extent of the restrictions the President will roll out. Uhuru’s address comes at a
time when the pandemic has reached the community explosion stage. More and more cases are being reported daily. On wider geographical areas across the country.
As projected earlier, health care facilities are now getting stretched. It is now harder to secure admission beds in Nairobi. Soon, things may get thick. We can’t purport to advise the President on the measures which he must take to protect Kenyans from this threatening scourge. But we can hazard an educated hypothesis on what the head of state must not do.
The disease is now spread countrywide. County governments have made important baby steps on its containment. And management. All laudable. Suffice however is to say that Kenya is not ready for a reckless reopening of the economy.
The dimensions of the window President Kenyatta decides to open must only be geared towards ensuring that Kenyans get the bare minimum…food rations, access to limited livelihood activities.
This however must be done with the utmost regard for the consequences which is the chaos that geometric rise in infections will bring.
It is Professor Magoha, the burly education minister who once said exams are not a matter of life and death…an economy whose reopening will trigger a senseless slaughter by the COVID-19 monster must be navigated with caution
The handling of the COVID-19 disaster will inform the legacy that Uhuru will bequeath Kenyans when he exits in 2022.
He must, therefore, be as cool as a cucumber when digesting the advice given to him by merchants and purveyors of interests clothed as technocrats.
Pointedly, President Kenyatta should take due cognition of how close COVID-19 crawled to his own door at State House and make a call that only safeguards Kenyans.
We trust you Mr. President to protect us. The economy can wait. The lives of Kenyans cant.
